BLACKSBURG, Va. — At least 21 are dead and another 21 are wounded after a shooting at Virginia Tech University Monday morning, police said.
Campus police said there was only one shooter and he is now dead. They are unsure if the shooter was a student and it was unclear if he was shot by police or took his own life.
"Today the university was struck by a tragedy we consider of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon. "I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over this senseless, incomprehensible, heinous act."
Steger said school officials are notifying victims' next if kin, and state police and the FBI are still investigating the various crime scenes. They are still trying to identify all the victims. The university will set up counseling centers for students and faculty.At 7:15 a.m. Monday, a 911 call came in to the campus police department concerning an incident at West Ambler Johnston, a residence hall, and that there were multiple shooting victims, Steger said. While that investigation was underway, a second shooting was reported in Norris Hall, located at the opposite end of the 2,600-acre campus.(Story continues below)
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Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said at least one person was killed at West Ambler Johnston, a residence hall, but several others were injured in that shooting. At least 20 were killed in classrooms in Norris Hall, an engineering building, Flinchum said.Flinchum said the Norris Hall gunman was dead, but wouldn't say whether the shooter killed himself.A spokeswoman at Montgomery Regional Hospital said 17 students were being treated there for gunshot wounds and other injuries, and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg reports that four people with gunshot wounds were being treated there. Carilion spokeswoman Sharon Honaker said one was in critical condition and three others were stable.
President Bush was "horrified" of news of shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. The White House is monitoring the incident.The school's Web site earlier said one shooter was in custody and officials searched for a second shooter as "part of routine police procedure," but during the press conference Monday, police said they believe there was only one shooter.Police also said there is no evidence the two shootings at opposite ends of campus were related.
Virginia Tech student Blake Harrison said he was on his way to class near Norris Hall when he saw chaos.
"This teacher comes flying out of Norris, he's bleeding from his arm or his shoulder ... all these students were coming out of Norris trying to take shelter in Randolph [Hall]. All these kids were freaked out," Harrison said.
The students and faculty were barricading themselves in their classrooms after what one person described as an Asian student wearing a vest opened fire.
The shooter was "wearing a vest covered in clips was just unloading on their door, going from classroom to classroom … they said it never seemed like it was going to stop and there was just blood all over," Harrison said.
Matt Merone, a campus senior, was on his way to campus Monday morning when he saw a police officer grab a male student who was bleeding from his stomach area and put him into a vehicle, which whisked him away. He told FOX News that his roommate saw the first shooting.
Student Amanda Johnson was walking between Norris and Randolph halls around 9:45 a.m. when she heard six shots fired.
"I've been target shooting since I was a little kid so I knew what the sounds were," said Johnson, who saw a male student jump out of a Norris Hall window to escape. She and others helped him get into a car.
The FBI joined police on the scene to investigate.
All classes have been canceled and students and most faculty have been told to stay inside. Tuesday classes have also been canceled but the campus will open at 8 a.m. EDT. Faculty and staff on the Burruss Hall side of the campus drillfield are being released and asked to go home effective immediately. Faculty and staff on the War Memorial Hall side of the drillfield are asked to leave at 12:30 p.m.The campus newspaper also reported that because of serious wind, helicopters cannot be used to transfer the injured. Ambulances are apparently being used to transport the victims to Montgomery Regional Hospital.
"There are police driving throughout the neighborhoods with a loudspeaker saying, 'this is an emergency, everyone stay inside, we're looking for suspicious activity," Brittany Sammon, a senior Virginia Tech student staying at an apartment off campus, told FOX News on Monday. "There's no one outside at all, there's no traffic, there's nothing … everyone's doing what they said."
Sammon, who has a brother and roommate confined to their buildings on campus, said she first got the e-mail from the school regarding the shooting at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
"It was just very short and brief and kind of scary, because it didn't have any details at all in it," she said. "It's definitely nerve wracking."
Anyone who observes anything suspicious or has information about this case is encouraged to contact the Virginia Tech Police at (540) 231-6411.
The West Ambler Johnston dorm, commonly known on campus as West AJ, houses about 895 students and is located near West End Market and Dietrick Dining Center.Virginia Tech has the largest full-time student population in Virginia, with more than 25,000 students. It consists of eight colleges and graduate school and offers 60 bachelor's degree programs and 140 master's and doctoral degree programs.The main campus includes more than 100 buildings located on 2,600 acres, and includes an airport.Last August, the campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy involved in a massive manhunt. The accused gunman,William Morva, faces capital murder charges.On April 13, the campus closed three of its academic halls after they received a letter stating that explosive devices were in the building. Classes were canceled for the remainder of the day. A bomb threat was also made against Torgerson Hall on April 2."For some reason, this just seemed a little different … it was more than just a sick joke someone was playing," one student told FOX News about those bomb threats.This is a developing story. Please refresh your page for updates.

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Think about the lives that could have been saved if people were allowed to carry. I think about the gubermint building I work at where no firearms are allowed -- we're easy pickins for any crazies.

"...And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:39-40

They WILL use this to cinch in some more restrictions....... forgetting completely that the campus was a "gun free zone" in the first place. The only people that didn't have guns were the responsible citizens that could have stopped it.

I guess, if truth be known, I can make a pretty good case for limiting student guns on campus, at least for the frosh. I think that there are sufficient hot tempers to cause pause at uncontrolled posession/ownership, if for no other reason than they are kids, thrown together with others not know to themselves, not to mention careless storage. That said, I can make an equally good case for certain (qualified) college staff and upperclassmen to be armed as they wish. This (of course) means training which the school can (should) provide.

Early details about the horrific school shooting at Virginia Tech strongly indicate that these events represent a Columbine-style black-op that will be exploited in the coming days to push for mass gun control and further turning our schools into prisons. ​

Eyewitness Matt Kazee told the Alex Jones Show that it was a full two to three hours after the shootings began that loudspeakers installed around the campus were used to warn students to stay indoors and that a shooter was on the loose. ​

Quite how the killer was afforded so much time before any action was taken to stop him is baffling, especially considering the fact that the campus, according to Kazee, was crawling with police before the event happened due to numerous bomb threats that had been phoned in last week. ​

The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the 100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a written bomb threat, The Roanoke Times reported. ​

CNN quoted a student who was outraged at the delay in identifying and stopping the killer. ​

"What happened today this was ridiculous. And I don't know what happened or what was going through this guy's mind," student Jason Piatt told CNN. "But I'm pretty outraged and I'll say on the record I'm pretty outraged that someone died in a shooting in a dorm at 7 o'clock in the morning and the first e-mail about it — no mention of locking down campus, no mention of canceling classes — they just mention that they're investigating a shooting two hours later at 9:22." ​

He added: "That's pretty ridiculous and meanwhile, while they're sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed." ​

The details that are beginning to emerge fill the criteria that this could very well be another government black-op that will be used as justification for more gun control and turing our schools into prisons, festooned with armed guards, surveillance cameras and biometric scanning to gain entry. ​

Ironic therefore it is that Virginia is a concealed carry state and yet Virginia Tech campus recently enforced a policy prohibiting "unauthorized possession, storage or control" of firearms on campus. According to gun rights activists such as Aaron Zelman of Jews For The Preservation of Firearms, VA Tech has "blood on its hands" for disarming the 21 victims who could potentially have defended themselves against the killer. ​

Initial reports suggested there were two shooters, but the story quickly changed to just one shooter who later killed himself (as happens in almost all these cases) or was shot by police. ​

Eyewitness accounts describe police hiding behind trees and failing to pursue the killer, while ordering the school to be placed on lockdown so nobody could escape the carnage as the killer picked off his targets with seemingly little interruption from the police. ​

At the moment, the official death toll is 30, but could rise, making this the deadliest school shooting in history. ​

If these figures are accurate, the casualty figures surpass those of the school shooting at Columbine in 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves. ​

It is well documented that disturbing questions remain over the incident at Columbine. It is clear that authorities had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. Observers were in the area hours before the shooting took place. Articles from the Associated Press stated that ballistics from Columbine show that six of the thirteen victims were possibly shot and killed by Jefferson County SWAT.
In addition, it was never properly explained how Klebold and Harris were able to transport over 100 bombs into the school before the shootings began.

In the aftermath of Columbine there were calls for vastly increased gun control laws, more than 15 state legislatures passed significant gun control bills or dropped NRA-supported bills. ​

In 1996 a similar incident occurred in Dunblane in Scotland where sixteen children and one adult were killed. The resulting inquiry recommended tighter control of handgun ownership, public feeling had turned against private gun ownership, allowing a much more restrictive ban on handguns to pass. ​

It then emerged that the killer Thomas Hamilton was heavily involved in Freemasonry , as well as running clubs for young boys, a fact which Labour and Tory ministers acknowledged in correspondence to each other. A a 100-year public secrecy order was placed on the documents, along with the majority of other information relating to the case including the police report. There have been allegations that the lengthy closure order was placed on the report after it linked Hamilton to figures in the Scottish establishment, including two senior politicians and a lawyer. ​

In both the Dunblane and Columbine cases the shooters turned the guns on themselves after the killing spree was over. ​

Just my thoughts.....Yesterday I was feeling sorry for myself, as it would have been my only sister, and best friends, 50th birthday , had she lived.....and it brought home that we need to hold tight to those we care about....and tell them....

Please, God. . .be with the families of all those lost yesterday, & today . . help them find peace. . help them heal. .

Please also be with those who are alive. . .sharing their fear and confusion about what they experienced . . and if you would . . don't let them have been saddened by the loss of anyone they considered a personal friend. . . spare them that . .

Lastly, forgive us for treating life so casually . . there are many people that woke up yesterday morning, groaning and complaining about it being a " Monday " . . . only to realize later what real pain feels like . .

Thank you for our blessings. . and please keep us in Your care . .

Hold extra tight to the new young people coming to Heaven tonight . . .

...Amen....

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." — Anna Quindlen

I don't want that much organization in my life..I don't want other people thinking for me...- Jimmy Buffett -

" don't know whether the shooter obtained his weapons legally or not, but I am hesitant to embrace the notion that different guns laws would have resulted in a different outcome in this case.

Wait, there is an exception to what I just said.
If one clear-thinking person with a CCW had been present, there might have been many fewer casualties."

"It blows me away how everyone who wasn't there is such an expert on how the situation SHOULD'VE been handled.
The media and all the gun control freaks have screamed for years and years that "law enforcement personnel should handle such things."
Now they're upset with the campus law enforcement, and yet still don't think the general citizenry should have the right to carry a weapon. Well, if they don't like the law enforcement people, and don't think the general citizenry should have firearms, HOW THE HELL DO PEOPLE DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST EVIL BASTARDS LIKE THIS PUNK FROM YESTERDAY??? I'M a law enforcement officer, and I say LET private citizens who obey the law carry a firearm if they wish. JEEZ, LOUISE!
And, of course, a couple of congressmen and many in the media are blaming President Bush. It was only a matter of time.
Whether the guy had the guns legally or not isn't the issue. He HAD the guns, PERIOD! No gun laws would've prevented that bastard from doing what he did. We go through this debate every time any act of evil of this magnatude occurs.
Yesterday I was thinking that maybe for once politics would be kept out of this act of evil. Again, I was wrong.

And now I'm hearing that this bastard was upset at "rich white kids" and the "American way of life."
But yet, this piece of slime has been in this country for 14 YEARS.
Well, if he hated it here that much, why didn't he take his coward ass back where he came from?
I just wonder how long the psycho-shrinks will try getting into this a-hole's head and see what caused him to "hate America so much" and if he had a bad childhood, or if he was picked on, or any of the usual B.S. these overpaid morons play up like a stratavarias every time evil like this happens.
Damn them and the media to hell.

What a world. "

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." — Anna Quindlen

I don't want that much organization in my life..I don't want other people thinking for me...- Jimmy Buffett -

**The emphasis in the following article is directly from it's author "Brady Network". I have left the letter in tact, except for removal of the bottom links [indicated]. I did leave the letter-links in tact for those of you who wanted to see the form letters that they will be sending (en mass, I'm sure) to our political powers. If you feel strongly, I would suggest you tell your political official your side.

Yesterday, we witnessed America's worst mass shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech. Thirty-three students and faculty were killed, including the gunman. At least fifteen more were wounded.

How many deaths and injuries must we endure before our nation's elected officials act to end gun violence? We must ask our leaders: "What are you going to do about it?" What are you going to do to make our schools, workplaces, and communities safe from gun violence?

President George W. Bush said yesterday that schools should be a place of "safety and sanctuary for every student," but he and other national leaders do nothing to ensure that safety. They provide condolences, and then do nothing to stop future tragedies.

Eight years ago this week, we watched in horror as students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado fled a mass shooting. Twelve students and one teacher were killed. Just seven months ago, five girls were gunned down in a school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

These aren’t isolated incidents. February 12, 2007, Salt Lake City: A teen opens fire in a mall killing five and wounding four. On the same day in Philadelphia: Three men fatally shot and a fourth wounded at a board meeting. January 11, 2007, Indianapolis: A man shoots four fellow employees. The list goes on and on.

There are common threads in all of these tragedies — it is much too easy for the wrong people to get high-powered, deadly weapons and our leaders fail to do anything about the problem.

It is urgent that you email or call your elected officials today.They must hear that you want action to keep guns out of the wrong hands.​

The message for all three calls is simple: It is much too easy for the wrong people to get deadly weapons in this country. It is time for you to take steps to end gun violence to prevent tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech.

The Brady Campaign is working nonstop to get the message out that there are solutions to gun violence. We can ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips that make it so easy to kill quickly . . . we can require Brady background checks for all gun sales, including at gun shows . . . we can stop large-volume gun sales that supply illegal gun traffickers. These are just some of the steps we can take to make it harder for the wrong people to get guns.

We are building a crescendo of public outcry to ensure that action is taken. We are aggressively rallying support among allies for our solutions. And we need your continued support to make it happen. Please make a contribution now(link removed) to keep the momentum going. When you do, a generous donor will match your gift.

Gun violence is a solvable problem. We know it won’t be easy. But we can make it harder for the wrong people to get their hands on guns through strong gun laws.

It is time for our nation’s leaders have courage to say "no" to the gun lobby's mantra of any gun, anywhere, at anytime for anyone, while wrapping it in distortions about "freedom" and "liberty."

Americans have the right to live free from the constant fear of gun violence.